Online abuse is still rife almost two years after presenter Caroline Flack’s death, her friend and fellow broadcaster Laura Whitmore has said.
Speaking to the Guardian restaurant critic Grace Dent on the Comfort Eating podcast, which is released on Tuesday, Whitmore said not much had changed since Flack took her own life in February 2020. The presenter died following her arrest on charges of assaulting her boyfriend, Lewis Burton, which led to intense public and media scrutiny.
Whitmore, who took over from Flack in presenting ITV’s Love Island, said: “I think there’s still a lot of anger in the world. And I think the press still tends to prefer to go with a negative headline. It’s hard because you would hope after something as shocking that you know, and something as horrific as what happened – I can’t even believe how long ago it is now, does it still feel so fresh – that some change will happen.”
After Flack’s death, Whitmore said: “You don’t have to tear down someone to feel good about yourself.” On the podcast, the presenter said not much had changed since she made these remarks, adding that the way people spoke to one another online was “not OK”.
She said: “There are certain papers I refuse to work with. And because of that, they will come for me and it’s hard. And it’s hard because I refuse to do an interview with them because of how they’ve treated friends of mine in the past or how they’ve written about them. And until they change, until they apologise or until they become better, I’m not going to work with them. But because of that, I’m fair game and that’s hard because it’s exhausting and it’s tiring. But if you don’t stand up, it’s not going to get better. And if you don’t say something, change won’t happen. But it’s just knowing what battles to fight.”
Since Flack’s death there has been scrutiny of how parts of the media cover mental health problems, and in particular the treatment of young women in the public eye.
After the release of a US documentary exploring coverage of Britney Spears in the 2000s, the Duchess of Sussex’s comments in her interview with Oprah Winfrey prompted calls for greater care over the handling of the issue – alongside some responses casting Meghan as a liar.
Flack’s mother has previously said the media have failed to learn the lessons of her daughter’s death and must take responsibility for coverage of public figures struggling with mental health problems.
She said she hoped the outlets that “wrote all the horrible things about Caroline” would “take away that, before they print anything, at least find out if it’s true. It’s someone’s life, it’s someone’s child, it’s someone’s sister or brother.”
She added: “I don’t think they’ve learned yet.”
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.
